We’re off for the holidays… everybody have a safe and happy…. and we’ll be back at you in ‘09.

This just in — blogs are no longer that outside the mainstream communication vehicle for “those crazy young kids and tech nerds.”  In fact as much a some old schoolers may be loathe to admit it, blogs just may be the new mainstream – and better yet, blogs sell.

According to a recent survey from Jupiter Research, blog readership has increased more than 300 percent since 2004 and nearly half of all online consumers read blogs. But here’s the kicker - more than half of those polled said blogs were useful when they were considering what purchases to make, and half of that group said they looked at a blog just when they were about to buy something.

So a note to communicators both old and new – blogs are here to stay and you better give them the credit and the respect they deserve.  Dismiss a blog as a communications channel and you may be closing a sales door. And in this economy everyone needs all the opportunities they can get.  Besides, besides their possible sales impact blogs can be downright entertaining. But given your current reading choice, I’m guessing you already knew that.

Everything communicates. That is particularly true in the top-down business world. What we say. What we wear. What we do. Even, what we don’t do.

In December’s Inc. magazine, Joel Spolsky writes about how leaders communicate. And what better time than now to focus on leadership? Joel’s point? Get your hands dirty:

“Here’s how you clean a toilet,” he said. And he got down on his knees in front of the porcelain bowl – in his pressed-starched-spotless dress uniform – and scrubbed it with his bare hands until it shined.

That’s how Joel learned leadership. He served under a high-ranking sergeant major in the Israeli Army. In the column, Joel describes his “servant-leadership” style and title of Fog Creek as “co-founder, CEO and Lord High Everything Else – including, apparently, of window treatments.” That’s because Joel spent two afternoons hanging curtains to block the sun from baking the backs of his employees and reducing the glare on their monitors.

Scrubbing toilets and hanging window treatments are cute stories. But they’re more—they’re examples of a leader’s real job. A true leader communicates that purpose every day. It’s a bottom-up approach. It’s one most of us aren’t comfortable with.

So, here’s a challenge: What can you do today to make someone better able to do their job? What obstacle is in their path that you can improve?

That’s a leadership mindset.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know how popular Facebook is. And chances are, you probably use it. It’s a great way to keep in touch with new friends and reconnect with old ones, join groups, learn about events, and serve people with court room documents. No, that last phrase wasn’t a joke. In fact this Tuesday, a court in Australia approved the use of Facebook to notify a couple that they lost their home after defaulting on a loan.

Australian courts have given permission in the past for people to be served through e-mail and text messages when it was not possible to serve them in person. But this week, the Australian Supreme Court ruled that Facebook is a satisfactory way of serving legal documents to defendants who cannot be found.

The judge ordered that the defendants in the case could be validly served by the plaintiff sending a message to the Facebook pages of both defendants informing them of the terms of the judgment. The documents must be attached to a private e-mail that could not be seen by others visiting the pages.That’s an inbox message for all us Facebook users.

McCormack, a lawyer for the lender the couple borrowed from, explained that after failing to reach the couple through all traditional methods of contact, he and a colleague found the woman’s Facebook page using personal information that she had given the lender including her birth date and e-mail address. Her partner was listed on her page as a friend. Before Tuesday, their profiles were public and open to strangers, but by the time the court approved the use of Facebook, the couple’s profiles had disappeared from public view. Guess Facebook really does do a good job with privacy settings, huh? Nonetheless, the case is set to be settled by the end of the week.

A few takeaways from this to share. First, Facebook has clearly left the sole box of social networking site and entered the realm of worldwide, accepted communication vehicle. The marketing world jumped on the bandwagon a long time ago, but with the legal world taking note, it seems as if Facebook has received a whole new level of legitimacy. Second, through vehicles like Facebook, the world has become teeny tiny, and with just the click of the mouse almost anyone can found. And finally, people use methods that they know and are comfortable with, and now Facebook has become a communication method as comfortable as picking up the phone. In fact, according to McCormack, “It’s one of those occasions where you feel most at home with what you know and I myself have a Facebook account.”

And it is this actuality that will inevitably force the wanted couple to face the Facebook music.

Long before the American Congress and Senate sealed Detroit’s fate with a rejection of their bailout, PR folks from each of the Big Three (GM, Ford and Chrysler) were busy toiling, crafting, spinning and programming their own issue website that they each hoped would accomplish their own “big three” goals.

1. Recast the issue from a Bailout to a smart bet for a strong American future

2. Counter the media’s clouded view of them as out-dated and out-of-touch behemoths to be sent to the wrecking yard.

3. Possibly sell some cars – Sure, it might be a stretch facing bankruptcy in a recession, but what the hell?

GM was the first out of the gate with a satellite website, named http://gmfactsandfiction.com/ It tackles such “myths” as “GM is looking for a government bailout”; “GM still doesn’t make cars that people want to buy”; and, “GM vehicles are not as fuel efficient as comparable imports”.

Each myth is followed by a snappy rebuttal written by GM’s public relations staff. The website invites readers to submit issues they have read or heard about “so that we can have an opportunity to address it”. In early October, it featured a video from their CFO, explaining why they’d be great at making cars people love in the future. A big miss. Poorly shot, poorly lit and poorly delivered, the spokesman looked awkwardly at the camera with slumping shoulders and a furrowed brow. Maybe they wanted to look more frugal. They should have spent more on the video.

Tom Wilkinson, a GM spokesman, acknowledged that the site breaks the old public-relations rule of never repeating the negative. But, he said, “We’re trying to take some risks with our internet strategy. We’ve found that the travails of the auto industry have spread beyond the business pages to the general media. Bloggers and others tend to pick up misinformation and recycle it endlessly.”

Later, the CFO video was replaced with an animated slide show of words and graphics. Better, but still lacking any of the human authenticity needed to counter the feeling of failure hanging over them.

Ford’s site followed, having apparently learned from GM’s missteps. Titled simply, “The Ford Story” it featured beautifully lit video of Chairman, Bill Ford, (pulling on the historical heartstrings) looking off camera talking plainly about how Ford was in a position to take a different route to success, than the one it had previously taken. Hey, change worked for Obama, why not the Fords?

According to the site, “At Ford, we are headed in a new direction. After turning a profit this year in the first quarter and making significant progress on cost reductions, we were hit by a spike in gas prices, followed by the current credit crisis. But instead of focusing on our challenges, we’d like you to know how very far Ford has come and how we’re doing business differently.”

It also contained a clickable economic footprint where you could find what Ford meant in real dollars and real jobs to your state. I checked PA. According to the site, Ford accounts for 110 direct staff and nearly 8,000 dealer employees throughout the state. Healthcare spending alone is $9M. An effective approach –historical and hyper-local.

Until a few weeks ago, Chrysler, the original bailout baby, did not have an issue site. Just glamour shots of trucks and cars at huge discounts. When they did enter the online fray, they went hyper-human.

The video on their site, featured “real” employees with real titles, from real places talking about what the car-maker means to America and why America should care. Well done Chrysler. Iacocca would be proud. More than any other issue website you answered with simplicity and authenticity the most important and basic question. “Why should I care?” It also contained a link titled, “Take Democracy by the horns” which led you to a contact your representative site. Good move.

It did not go unnoticed that every video from every site carried the ubiquitous YouTube logo, which has become a PR given in today’s multi-media, multi-tasking world.

Corporations face important issues all the time. Rarely do they carry such high stakes as $14 billion, but it all feels just as crucial. If you do pull the issue website from your marketing quiver, remember the big three rules:

1. Validate their concerns.

2. Show them (don’t tell them) your actions.

3. Let them know you care.

You can only accomplish the last one with authentic human actions and messages, not bogus corporate ones. Or you’ll never get in the driver’s seat.